In order to bring together the work of award-winning poets from the Middle East, Europe, and North America, a new literary journal, Near East Review: A Journal of International Poetry and Literature, was recently edited by Bilkent faculty members.
Near East Review is the first journal of its kind to be published in Turkey, printed entirely in English with over 170 pages of interviews, poems, translations, essays and reviews, from more than twelve countries.
The first two-volume issue features new translations of works by Turkish poets Enis Batur, İlhan Berk, Sunay Akın, Güven Turan, Murathan Mungan, and Bejan Matur as well as poems by John Kinsella, Don Patterson, Ian Duhig, Sean O'Brien, and Peter Didsbury. In honor of the centennial of Nazım Hikmet's birth, the current issue also includes, for the first time in English, Mutlu Konuk's selected translations from Hikmet's prison letters to his son, Memet Fuat.
The journal, officially released this month, is the brainchild of Editor George Messo, with assistance from Book Reviews Editor T. K. Fountain (FYEP) and two Bilkent graphic design students, Aslıhan Özgen and Seçil Orhan.
Anyone interested in learning more about the journal, or purchasing a copy, should contact the editor directly at ext. 2621 or check out the journal’s cyber-home at www.bilkent.edu.tr /~leech/nerjournal/ .